SAM Allardyce was pleased with the way his young side performed despite the 1-0 loss to Huddersfield Town on Wednesday evening.

A tight encounter was settled by Joey Gudjonsson's thunderbolt volley on 17 minutes, and although the Rovers boss admitted his side struggled early on, he felt that they grew stronger as the game went on.

"We changed it to 3-4-3 after about 20 minutes because we were getting a little bit overrun down the sides. Then we got to grips with the game," said Sam after the match.

"We got better and stopped Huddersfield playing and then started getting in the game a bit more.

"We didn't create too much to be fair but certainly our best chance came to Dioufy towards the end and he volleyed the ball wide.

"But apart from their stunning goal they didn't create that much either, but it is not so much about the result, it is about the fitness of the players and against Huddersfield it was about looking more at the youngsters we have got.

"We had some of the young players against Preston and some of the senior players. Obviously they didn't do well.

"But against Huddersfield some of the younger players have shown they have got good development stages under their belt by playing in the first team, and have shown they have good ability.

"They were a little naive obviously, a little raw, but certainly lots of good potential."

The Rovers squad jet off this Thursday to Australia to take part in the inaugural Sydney Festival of Football.

They play three games in six days, against Rangers, AEK Athens and Sydney FC.

Tickets for the matches are available at www.ticketek.com.au